Prison alcohol strategy is a welcome first step but there is still a long way to go, says Alcohol Concern

17 December 2004

Richard Phillips, Director of Policy and Services for Alcohol Concern, said;

?The Prison Alcohol Strategy is an important step forward to tackling the nation?s alcohol misuse problems.

?Of the 60,000 sentenced prisoners in the UK, just over 40,000 are hazardous alcohol users and almost half of these have severe alcohol problems. Left untreated, these problems pose a significant obstacle to rehabilitation once a sentence is complete and in some cases are a factor in influencing re-offending.

?At present no prison in Britain has an adequate response to the high level of alcohol misuse; to date the Government?s response to these priorities has been limited. It may not get headlines in the same way as drugs, but if we want to avoid re- processing people through the criminal justice system and are committed to decreasing the numbers of alcohol-related crimes committed, tackling underlying problems such as alcohol misuse is vital.

?Now that the Prison Service has done all this hard work to create a framework, we are looking to the government to announce funding for this to be rolled out in all prisons across the country.?

?Alcohol-related crime and disorder costs us £7.3 billion per year in policing and processing offenders through the Criminal Justice System. Investment in proper treatment programmes for offenders is a priority the Government can?t afford to ignore.?

ENDS

For more information, please contact Sophie Davison, Alcohol Concern Press Office, on 020 7922 8669.

Date: 17 December 2004